DNA methylases transfer methyl groups from the universal methyl donor S-adenosyl methionine to specific sites on the DNA. Several biological functions have been attributed to the methylated bases in DNA. The most established biological function for methylated DNA is the protection of DNA from digestion by cognate restriction enzymes. The restriction modification phenomenon has, so far, been observed only in bacteria. Mammalian cells, however, possess a different methylase that exclusively methylates cytosine residues that are 5′ neighbors of guanine (CpG). This modification of cytosine residues has important regulatory effects on gene expression, especially when involving CpG rich areas, known as CpG islands, located in the promoter regions of many genes.
Methylation has been shown by several lines of evidence to play a role in gene activity, cell differentiation, tumorigenesis, X-chromosome inactivation, genomic imprinting and other major biological processes (Razin, A., H., and Riggs, R. D. eds. in DNA Methylation Biochemistry and Biological Significance. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1984). In eukaryotic cells, methylation of cytosine residues that are immediately 5′ to a guanosine, occurs predominantly in CG poor regions (Bird, A., Nature, 321:209, 1986). In contrast, CpG islands remain unmethylated in normal cells, except during X-chromosome inactivation (Migeon, et al, supra) and parental specific imprinting (Li, et al, Nature, 366:362, 1993) where methylation of 5′ regulatory regions can lead to transcriptional repression. De novo methylation of the Rb gene has been demonstrated in a small fraction of retinoblastomas (Sakai, et al., Am. J. Hum. Genet., 48:880, 1991), and recently, a more detailed analysis of the VHL gene showed aberrant methylation in a subset of sporadic renal cell carcinomas (Herman, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., U.S.A., 91:9700, 1994). Expression of a tumor suppressor gene can also be abolished by de novo DNA methylation of a normally unmethylated CpG island (Issa, et al, Nature Genet., 7:536, 1994; Herman, et al., supra; Merlo, et al, Nature Med., 1:686, 1995; Herman, et al, Cancer Res., 56:722, 1996; Graff, et al, Cancer Res., 55:5195, 1995; Herman, et al, Cancer Res., 55:4525, 1995).
Human cancer cells typically contain somatically altered nucleic acid, characterized by mutation, amplification, or deletion of critical genes. In addition, the nucleic acid from human cancer cells often displays somatic changes in DNA methylation (E. R. Fearon, et al, Cell, 61:759, 1990; P. A. Jones, et al., Cancer Res., 46:461, 1986; R. Holliday, Science, 238:163. 1987; A. De Bustros, et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 85:5693, 1988); P. A. Jones, et al, Adv. Cancer Res., 54:1, 1990; S. B. Baylin, et al, Cancer Cells, 3:383, 1991; M. Makos, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 89:1929, 1992; N. Ohtani-Fujita, et al., Oncogene, 8:1063, 1993). However, the precise role of abnormal DNA methylation in human tumorigenesis has not been established. Aberrant methylation of normally unmethylated CpG islands has been described as a frequent event in immortalized and transformed cells, and has been associated with transcriptional inactivation of defined tumor suppressor genes in human cancers. In the development of colorectal cancers (CRC), a series of tumor suppressor genes (TSG) such as APC, p53, DCC and DPC4 are inactivated by mutations and chromosomal. Some of these alterations result from a chromosomal instability phenotype described in a subset of CRC. Recently, an additional pathway has been shown to be involved in a familial form of CRC, hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer. The cancers from these patients show a characteristic mutator phenotype which causes microsatellite instability (MI), and mutations at other gene loci such as TGF-β-RII and BAX. This phenotype usually results from mutations in the mismatch repair (MMR) genes hMSH2 and hMLH1. A subset of sporadic CRC also show MI, but mutations in MMR genes appear to be less frequent in these tumors.
Another molecular defect described in CRC is CpG island (CGI) methylation. CGIs are short sequences rich in the CpG dinucleotide and can be found in the 5′ region of about half of all human genes. Methylation of cytosine within 5′ CGIs is associated with loss of gene expression and has been seen in physiological conditions such as X chromosome inactivation and genomic imprinting. Aberrant methylation of CGIs has been detected in genetic diseases such as the fragile-X syndrome, in aging cells and in neoplasia. About half of the tumor suppressor genes which have been shown to be mutated in the germline of patients with familial cancer syndromes have also been shown to be aberrantly methylated in some proportion of sporadic cancers, including Rb, VHL, p16, HMLH1, and BRCA1. TSG methylation in cancer is usually associated with (1) lack of gene transcription and (2) absence of coding region mutation. Thus it has been proposed that CGI methylation serves as an alternative mechanism of gene inactivation in cancer.
The causes and global patterns of CGI methylation in human cancers remain poorly defined. Aging could play a factor in this process because methylation of several CGIs could be detected in an age-related manner in normal colon mucosa as well as in CRC. In addition, aberrant methylation of CGIs has been associated with the MI phenotype in CRC as well as specific carcinogen exposures. However, an understanding of aberrant methylation in CRC has been somewhat limited by the small number of CGIs analyzed to date. In fact, previous studies have suggested that large numbers of CGIs are methylated in immortalized cell lines, and it is not well understood whether this global aberrant methylation is caused by the cell culture conditions or whether they are an integral part of the pathogenesis of cancer.
Most of the methods developed to date for detection of methylated cytosine depend upon cleavage of the phosphodiester bond alongside cytosine residues, using either methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes or reactive chemicals such as hydrazine which differentiate between cytosine and its 5-methyl derivative. Genomic sequencing protocols which identify a 5-MeC residue in genomic DNA as a site that is not cleaved by any of the Maxam Gilbert sequencing reactions have also been used, but still suffer disadvantages such as the requirement for large amount of genomic DNA and the difficulty in detecting a gap in a sequencing ladder which may contain bands of varying intensity.
Mapping of methylated regions in DNA has relied primarily on Southern hybridization approaches, based on the inability of methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes to cleave sequences which contain one or more methylated CpG sites. This method provides an assessment of the overall methylation status of CpG islands, including some quantitative analysis, but is relatively insensitive and requires large amounts of high molecular weight DNA. Another method utilizes bisulfite treatment of DNA to convert all unmethylated cytosines to uracil. The altered DNA is amplified and sequenced to show the methylation status of all CpG sites. However, this method is technically difficult, labor intensive and without cloning amplified products, it is less sensitive than Southern analysis, requiring approximately 10% of the alleles to be methylated for detection.
Identification of the earliest genetic changes in tumorigenesis is a major focus in molecular cancer research. Diagnostic approaches based on identification of these changes are likely to allow implementation of early detection strategies and novel therapeutic approaches targeting these early changes might lead to more effective cancer treatment.